Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“You host it?” I asked.
He shrugged. “It would be better to say I fund it. Supply the location, cover the costs. There is a committee that puts it all together. A friend of mine is the head of the board, and she got me involved several years ago.”
I didn’t want to seem ungrateful or rush him, but I’d already told him that Gypsi being at the camper alone late at night bothered me. “I, uh … how late do you think we will be?”
Garrett looked at his watch, then back to me. “Late. But I have Gypsi and the camper being monitored.”
“Monitored?” I asked, confused.
“Two of my men are there, watching to make sure she is safe. She won’t see them or know they’re there.”
I let out a short laugh, somehow shocked that he could still manage to surprise me.
“You have bodyguards at my camper?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes, Fawn. They’ve been there since the night I fucked you on the hood of my car.”
“Garrett,” I said simply, torn between frustration and relief. “You have got to stop with this kind of thing.”
The elevator opened, and Garrett motioned for me to step out. “I want you and your daughter safe. Is that a crime?”
No, it was just a lot to accept.
“Thank you,” I finally replied.
I then walked into what appeared to be the penthouse. The windows straight ahead were floor to ceiling and went all the way around the room. The ocean waves crashed onto the shore in the moonlight, making the view completely breathtaking.
I walked over for a better view now that I could relax and enjoy myself, knowing Gypsi was safe. I’d thought I had that kind of peace when we lived at the clubhouse with Micah. Little had I known, the young prospect she’d started dating in the club would end up being an abusive bastard. He’d verbally beat her down. My fists clenched at my sides as I thought about him. I’d failed my baby girl then. I wasn’t sure I would ever forgive myself for that.
Garrett came up behind me, his hand covering one of my fisted ones. He seemed to notice everything. Not one small detail got past this man.
“Does this view upset you, or is there something else I need to rectify?” he asked.
I looked at his reflection in the glass. He was taller than me, even in these heels. His broad shoulders in that tux and the powerful look of his firm jawline, perfect bone structure, and piercing eyes made me shiver. Was he truly as dangerous as Micah and Josephine had suggested? I’d watched men cower and bow their heads in his presence. Why? What was it that made him wield that kind of power?
“I was thinking of something in the past,” I finally admitted. “This? This is beautiful. You keep introducing me to views that I think can’t get any better, but then they do.”
He lifted a hand and ran it over my bare shoulder, then down my arm as his gaze held mine in the reflection. “I’m expected at the gala, but I’m struggling with the desire to strip this dress off you and fuck you in those heels.”
I wanted to turn around and beg him to do just that, but one of us had to be responsible. If the gala was at his hotel and for the children’s hospital, he needed to show up.
“If Gypsi is safe tonight, then after the gala, I’d be very interested in that scenario,” I told him.
He chuckled deep in his chest. “You’d be interested, huh?”
I nodded, smiling at him.
He lowered his head and brushed his lips against my ear. “Gypsi is safe. I have two of my best men protecting her,” he promised me. “Let’s go to the gala, where I’m going to have a hard time thinking of anything other than you naked in those heels.”
I turned around to face him, and he took my hand in his, then raised it to his lips and pressed a kiss to my palm before releasing it at my side.
Without another word, he led me back to the elevator.
“What did you need to come here first for?” I asked him, thinking he’d forgotten to get something.
His lips curled at the corners. “I wanted you to see it.”
I raised my eyebrows as I smiled up at him. “You were showing off then? Trust me, Garrett Hughes, I am already impressed with all you own.”
He cupped my chin in his hand. “It’s not to impress you,” he corrected me. “It’s because you light up like the fucking sun when I show you anything with a stunning view. Just to see you brighten an entire room with your joy, I want to take you all over the world. There are so many views I want you to see.”
I blinked as I reminded myself to breathe. He continued to do and say things that made it hard to believe he was a bad man—or a dangerous one. Perhaps he was dangerous, but he wasn’t when it came to me.